


Not a Surprise

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai Mid-Birthday Week 2019 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: For months Kuroo has had his work disturbed by the construction going on next door so he finally goes over to confront the new business owner and things take a turn in a direction he wasn't expecting.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi
Series: KuroDai Mid-Birthday Week 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566823
Comments: 5
Kudos: 153





	Not a Surprise

Kuroo pauses outside the the tattoo parlors doors, looking surprised as he takes notices of the shop next door. It had been under construction for months now, a huge disturbance to everyone who worked at the tattoo shop, but it looks complete now. There are two huge barrels full of overflowing flowers, soft hued pastels that contrast nicely with the light blue the new owner of the shop had painted the building. There’s several hanging planters, greenery flowing almost artistically down. The only thing that seems off is the hand painted open sign but even that is charming in a ‘my third grader did this’ kind of way.

The sight makes the corner of Kuroo’s lips tip upwards despite the constant noise and ruckus the construction workers had caused for months on end. Kuroo thought he was going to have to start using earbuds just so his concentration wouldn’t be shot while tattooing.

Kuroo takes a step into the parlor and is met with a second surprise that morning. There is a number of vases filled to the brim with brightly colored flowers. They are all different, unique in their own way and despite the scribbled Open sign there is also a clear artistry to who ever had made them. They should clash with each other or not look right in the modern and minimalist design the parlor sports but instead they fit right in, bringing just the right amount of color and warmth into the front room.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Misaki says, big smile planted on her face as she touches the purple and white bundle that sits on her desk. “The new owner from next door brought them over this morning as an apology for all the noise.” Misaki is probably the most tattooed out of all of them. She has full sleeves, a huge chest piece, her entire back is covered, and she has a circle of tattoos going around her neck. The only place she hasn’t tattooed is her left thigh, where her soulmate mark stretches from her outer midthigh up to her waist. Kuroo tilts his head as he realizes that the bouquet on her desk matches her mark perfectly.

“He was very apologetic.” Akaashi speaks up, tone soft as his eyes catch on his own bouquet before quickly looking away. Kuroo can feel his smirk widening as he catches sight of the pink spreading on Akaashi’s cheeks. The other tattoo artist had been the most annoyed by the disturbance nextdoor, though he would never admit to it, far too polite to do so. About a month into construction there had been a rather loud bang then cursing. The tattoo parlor shared a wall with the new florist next door, and Akaashi had the unfortunate luck to have his desk right against that wall. Akaashi had been so frustrated he had snapped his pencil in half, stood up abruptly, gathered his items, and excused himself. He had found solace in the small coffee shop down the road.

Actually Kuroo and the others thought he found much more than a good place to work given that he was now always wearing long sleeved shirts to hide his previously unbloomed soulmark. Kuroo, Misaki, and Matsukawa had all gone to the coffee shop to try and figure out who exactly Akaashi had met there. They had figured out it had to be an employee, given how Akaashi had made it a daily ritual to go down there for lunch, but they couldn’t figure out which employee.

Kuroo had his money on Bokuto though Misaki and Matsukawa called him out for personal bias. Kita, who claimed he was uninvolved in their spying, said it couldn’t be Bokuto considering Akaashi had already known the outgoing barista and while they were friends, had never shown romantic interest in each other. Kuroo still hoped it was Bokuto.

Misaki thought it was the new barista, Yachi. She was tiny and adorable, but mostly it was because while she seemed a nervous mess with everyone else she relaxed around Akaashi. Kuroo could even admit they would make an adorable couple.

Matsukawa thought it was Iwaizumi. While he wasn’t new he had mostly worked the night shifts and had recently switched to the day shifts. Kuroo was insulted no one called bias on Matsukawa considering he had known the burly baker since high school.

“He was very handsome too.” Misaki said, trying to hide her grin and failing miserably at it. Kuroo drops his bag on his own desk, taking note of the fiery reds and oranges that make up his own set of flowers. He wants to bend down and take a deep breath but will have to wait until no one is around to witness and then make fun of him for it.

“Are you meddling in my affairs again?” Kuroo asks without venom, moving the flowers to the other side of his desk and taking a seat. The problem with being now one of the only single people in a business full of those who had already found their soulmates meant people were constantly trying to help him.

Kuroo did not need nor want help finding his soulmate. He was of the mindset that if he never met them then that would be fine too. He had made an entire career out of reasons why finding “the one” didn’t always turn out in a happily ever after.

Like most artists, Kuroo had a specialty. He did other work every once and a while but mostly he was kept quite busy with doing coverups. Cover Ups involving soulmate marks specifically speaking. There were a lot of reasons to get a mark covered up. Sometimes people did not want their life dictated by a magical phenomenon that was practically unexplainable even in their modern age. If a soulmate died then their mark died with them, leaving the mark looking faded, dull, and tarnished. Rejection also came into play, twisting the mark into something akin to a rotted looking scar.

Kuroo’s own mark started practically at his left knee, up the length of his outer thigh, spreading out over his side and ribs, curving around his chest and up his shoulder, peeking out onto his neck and almost covering his entire left bicep. The blooms were tightly closed and while he never shied away from telling others about his disinterest in soulmarks he left that area of his body free of tattoos. He told himself it was because he was picky about what he put on his body but considering the amount of times he had let others tattoo on him for practice when he was younger he knew he was full of it.

“You should go over and introduce yourself, it’s the neighborly thing to do.” Misaki said hopefully.

“I’ll pass.” Kuroo pulls out his sketchbook and tablet. He has a lot of work to catch up on now that things are back to being quiet. Misaki pouts but she lets it go, which Kuroo is thankful for.

Kuroo uses the flowers on his desk as a warmup for his sketches. It’s only logical, a lot of his art contains flowers so why not use the ones right in front of him.

  
  
  
  


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A month later Kuroo found himself stepping into the flower shop for the first time. It was bustling as always, even more overflowing with flowers and plants crowding every inch of available space. Kuroo found himself having to duck and shift constantly to avoid knocking anything over. He kind of enjoyed the chaos even though he couldn’t imagine working in such a place day after day. Nothing seemed organized, not by any standard he could tell and the aisles were set up haphazardly as if the plants came first and the people were only a minor thought.

There’s only one employee that Kuroo can see, a guy with brown buzzed hair who is shorter than Kuroo but even from a distance Kuroo can see he’s built well enough. The warm smile and pastel pink shirt he wears underneath the gray apron give him a friendly appearance as he chats amiably with the people he is ringing up. He doesn’t look anxious and pressured despite the queue.

“Hello! Sorry for the wait, how can I help you?” Kuroo turns towards the loud voice, as do several people in the store. There is another employee, only noticeable because of the gray apron with the store logo on it, this one is quite short with ridiculously spiky hair and some of the biggest eyes Kuroo has ever seen. The employee isn’t talking to Kuroo but a confused looking young teenager so Kuroo continues about his business, making his way steadily and slowly towards the back of the shop.

“Moniwa,” Kuroo startles at the low baritone, turning to see someone leaning out a door with an Employees Only sign on it. He’s also wearing a gray apron, though he would tower over both of the other employees. A short man with curly black hair leans closer, nervously fidgeting with his bag. “Would you like to see the orchids?”

“Oh! Hello Ushijima! Shouldn’t you help with the crowd?” The man, Moniwa Kuroo can only guess, asks. The taller man with some of the widest shoulders Kuroo has ever seen and clear green eyes looks around the shop before his eyes land back on Moniwa. Kuroo pretends to look at some small blue flowers as he eavesdrops.

“Hoshiumi and Nakashima have it under control.” Ushijima says in a voice devoid of emotion, as far as Kuroo can tell anyways. “Sawamura told me to let them handle it and he should be back soon.” Kuroo could understand not wanting the giant to interact and scare away customers. But just when he was thinking the large man was akin to a robot his eyes softened and his voice, if possible, lowered. “Do you not want to see the orchids?”

“No no, please I would love to.” Moniwa said, flushing adorably. Kuroo ducked his head to hide his grin, not that he needed to since the two were clearly in their own world.

Kuroo wandered around the store, enjoying his time to people watch. The two workers flitted from customer to customer, bright and welcoming in their own ways. Neither seemed to lose any patience no matter how long a customer hummed with indecision, carefully making suggestions until a mutual understanding was met and everyone walked away happy.

Kuroo was so busy watching these interactions that he ran right into someone. Kuroo would never be called a small man, though he was more on the lanky side, but he stumbled back a couple steps before regaining his footing while the other person barely swayed.

“I’m sorry.” A deep voice apologized from behind the heavy bag of dirt they were carrying over a broad shoulder. He put it down, nudging the bag beneath an overflowing table. “I should have been paying more attention to where I was going, are you okay?” Big brown eyes stared at him from beneath the bill of a baseball cap.

“It’s okay, my fault.” Kuroo said easily. The man in front of him wasn’t wearing the same apron as the other workers but he had a sweatshirt the same soft gray with the company's logo on the front.

“Have you been helped yet?” The man asked, pushing the sleeves of the sweatshirt up to reveal nicely toned and tanned forearms. Kuroo told himself his spike of interest in that newly revealed stretch of skin was purely professional, he could make some beautiful art with that man.

_On that man_ . Kuroo could make beautiful art _on that man_.

“It’s my mothers birthday, I thought she might enjoy some flowers.” Kuroo forced himself to meet those soft brown eyes and not stare at anything else. Due to the cramped and crowded shop they had to stand quite close and from that distance it was obvious the handful of centimeters Kuroo held over the other man, who had to crane his neck up to look Kuroo in the eye. It was adorable and Kuroo knew he was in trouble.

“Any specific colors?” The man asked.

“Yellow?” Kuroo scratched at his neck as glanced around the shop, noticed that both of the employees were staring at them before hurriedly going back to their jobs when they were caught. “Are their cat friendly flowers? I know a lot are poisonous and my mom has three.”

“That will help narrow it down.” The shorter man hummed before he started to make his way through the store, grabbing flowers at seemingly random. Kuroo watched him gather a couple different yellow ones but he pulled in some light blues and purples too.

“I’m Kurro.” Kuroo introduced himself as he followed behind the man, who shot a grin over his shoulder, revealing a single dimple in his cheek that made Kuroo walk directly into a table.

“So you’re the other tattoo artist I missed.” He was looked up and down before he turned back around to continue gathering flowers. “Your friend, Misaki, she described you to a tee.” Kuroo cringed at that and patted down his hair. Misaki never had anything nice to say about his hair.

“So you must be the owner?” Kuroo thought of the name of the new flower shop. “Sa’mura was it?” He received a glare for that and felt something twist pleasantly in his stomach. “You were causing quite a ruckus, disturbed the peace for months.”

“Ruckus?” Sawamura snorted. “What are you, 70?” Kuroo sputtered at that.

“It’s a perfectly good word!” Kuroo defended, wondering when the teasing had been turned back on him and why exactly he liked that so much.

“Okay Grandpa.” The dimple was back. Kuroo did not walk into a table but he did get nailed in the head with a hanging pot. “Watch it.”

“I’m sorry I’m not from the lollypop guild and able to navigate this place like you.” Kuroo rubbed his temple, wondering if it would bruise.

“I’m above average height.” Sawamura angrily snatched up another yellow flower.

“For a 12 year old girl, sure.” Kuroo teased.

“You know what, I think the backroom needs a little work.” Sawamura stepped behind the counter, the shorter employee with the buzz cut stepped back with his hands held up in surrender. “Shouldn’t be too long, maybe a month or twelve. Construction won’t disturb your work too much, will it?” He tore off a long piece of brown paper.

“Speaking of that, you kind of owe me.” Kuroo couldn’t see Sawamura’s eyebrows due to the baseball cap but he was sure they were raised. “A lot of my work involves flowers, you should let me come in and sketch to make up for all the _ruckus_.” Kuroo leaned against the counter and gave his best smirk, the one that made Akaashi’s lip curl up in disgust.

“Oh should I? Really? Because I’ve been losing sleep over the fact that starting my own business might have inconvenienced you for a little bit of time.” Sawamura put the now wrapped flowers on the counter before storming off. Kuroo made a pleased noise as he took them, they were artfully arranged and the paper wrapping with the twine gave it a finished look.

“How much do I owe you?” Kuroo asked, glancing at the two bug eyed employees and then to the retreating back of their boss.

“It’s on the house!” Sawamura yelled, shoulders relaxed despite his tone.

“So when should I stop by for those sketches?” Kuroo couldn’t help but push his luck.

“Tomorrow at seven!” Sawamura stomped into the back room and Kuroo tapped the counter happily before making his way out of the store.

Kuroo’s mother loved the flowers and he was only partly surprised when she yanked on the neckline of his shirt, demanding answers about his partly bloomed soulmate mark.

**Author's Note:**

> KuroDai Mid-Birthday Week 2019  
> December 9th, Day 1: Magical Realism/Tattoo Artist & Florist AU
> 
> Additional Notes:  
> Kuroo shows up the next day at 7pm.  
> The flower shop is closed.  
> Kuroo is not surprised.


End file.
